ornia 
tal 

7 


THE 
SOUL  of  WOMAN 

AN  INTERPRETATION  e/THE 
PHILOSOPHY  of  FEMINISM 

PAUL  JORDAN  SMITH 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 


THE 
SOUL  of  WOMAN 

AN  INTERPRETATION  OF 
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  FEMINISM 


BY 


PAUL  JORDAN  SMITH 


\ 


PAUL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 


Copyright,  1916 

By  PAUL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY 
SAN  FRANCISCO 


Think  of  womanhood,  and  you  to  be  a 
woman; 

The  creation  is  womanhood; 

Have  I  not  said  that  womanhood  in- 
volves all? 

Have  I  not  told  how  the  universe  has 
nothing  better  than  the  best  woman- 
hood? 

— WALT  WHITMAN. 


Follow  after  thyself — what  says  thy 
conscience? — thou  shalt  be  that  which 
thou  art — let  the  highest  self-expression 
be  thy  highest  expression. 

— FREDERICK  NIETZSCHE. 


[m] 


' 


FOREWORD 

The  new  Feminism  has  created  a 
revolution  in  the  ranks  of  the  woman 
movement.  It  has  made  a  startling 
announcement  to  a  body  busily  en- 
gaged in  promoting  the  claims  for 
suffrage  and  the  cause  of  social  re- 
form. It  declares  that  the  primary 
purpose  of  woman  is  spiritual]  that 
suffrage  and  social  reform  are  good 
enough  in  their  way,  but  that  woman 
as  woman  has  a  greater  value  to  con- 
tribute to  Life,  and  that  she  must  do 
this  at  all  costs.  Far  from  being  con- 
servative, however,  the  Feminists  have 
gone  away  and  ahead  of  their  sisters 
in  proposing  revolutionary  social  and 
ethical  changes,  and  are  awakening 
astonished  protests  everywhere.  And 
this  has  led  us  to  a  fresh  consideration 
of  the  spiritual  life  of  woman,  and 
we  turn  to  those  great  seers  of  modern 
literature  who  have  been  able  to  express 
most  powerfully  what  they  have  been 
votichsafed  to  see  of  the  Soul  of  Woman. 

[v] 


FOREWORD 

So,  in  a  very  brief  way,  the  author  of 
this  little  booklet  has  set  down  a  few 
of  the  things  that  the  interpreters  have 
said,  in  the  hope  that  in  some  who 
have  been  hostile,  there  will  be  evoked 
a  new  sympathy  for  the  motives  if 
not  for  the  ideals  of  Feminism. 


[VI] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 


i. 

FOR  a  mere  man,  in  these  sensitive 
times  of  the  newness  of  Femi- 
nism, to  presume  to  speak  of  the  Soul 
of  Woman,  it  is  necessary  at  the 
outset,  if  not  to  state  his  intentions, 
to  state  at  least  his  attitude  of  mind 
toward  the  movement  which  is  the 
modern  expression  of  that  soul.  It 
will,  then,  be  necessary  for  the  au- 
thor to  declare  himself  a  firm  believer 
in  the  rights  of  woman,  the  right  of 
suffrage,  of  economic  equality  and 
independence.  He  rejoices  in  the 
recent  victories  of  woman  at  the 
ballot  box,  and  looks  forward  to 
still  greater  victories  in  the  days 
to  come.  The  enfranchisement  of 
woman  has  been  an  imperative  need, 
not  only  for  woman,  but  also  for  the 
human  race.  He  recognizes  the  fact 
that  in  the  attainments  thus  far 
reached  a  struggle  has  been  necessary, 
and  that  certain  militant  tendencies 
have  been  very  natural  accompani- 
ments of  the  holy  war. 

in 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

Woman  in  the  effort  to  become 
politically  emancipated  has  met  the 
superstitions  of  man,  and  the  bigotry 
of  man,  and  the  savage  inclinations 
and  barbaric  institutions  of  man; 
and  all  these  things  she  has  had  to 
meet  on  their  respective  levels.  This 
has  brought  about  the  fear  that  the 
woman  movement  will  rob  the  world 
of  its  gentler  feminine  spirit;  and 
indeed  the  facts  have  appeared,  at 
first  glance,  to  justify  this  apprehen- 
sion. In  general,  all  social  move- 
ments not  only  create  their  necessary 
types,  but  they  also  attract  those 
who  by  temperament  are  dissatisfied 
with  and  rebel  against  the  usual. 
This  phenomenon  is  common  to  all 
new  social  and  religious  movements. 
The  minds  of  those  who  have  not 
been  enabled  to  look  beyond  these 
vagaries  and  whimsicalities,  not  to 
say  abnormalities,  have  confused  the 
pathological  incidents  of  this  great 
and  profound  movement  with  its 
revolutional  end  and  ideal. 

But  now  that  so  much  has  been 

[2] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

accomplished;  now  that  the  founda- 
tion has  been  laid  and  the  severest 
struggle  is  over;  now  that  the  man 
of  culture  has,  with  exceptional  in- 
stances, been  converted;  now  is  the 
time  to  address  ourselves  to  the  more 
fundamental  aims  and  the  higher 
needs  that  have  all  along  been  the 
prompting  motives  of  the  leaders. 

It  can  now  be  seen  that  "enfran- 
chisement is  not  freedom,"  nor  the 
solution  of  all  our  human  ills;  that 
it  is  at  best  but  a  leverage,  and  often 
a  very  ineffectual  one,  by  which 
certain  more  fundamental  needs  may 
be  secured. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  listen  to  the 
more  advanced  German  leaders,  and 
to  Olive  Schreiner,  Mr.  Havelock 
Ellis,  or  to  that  brave  Scandinavian 
soul,  Ellen  Key. 

These  have  seen  that  "it  is  not 
enough  to  claim  woman's  place  as  a 
human  being,  but  to  claim  woman's 
place  as  woman;  that  we  are  not 
now  so  much  concerned  with  the 
rights  of  women  to  be  like  men,  as 

[3] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

to  understand  their  right  to  be  un- 
like men." 

It  is  to  Ellen  Key  in  particular 
that  we  must  look  for  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  new  and  yet  old  ideals. 
She  has  that  profound  insight  that 
enables  her  to  read  the  heart-long- 
ings and  aspirations  of  our  time. 
She  interprets  the  normal  woman 
with  the  mother  ideal  and  the  race 
instinct.  She  would  reconcile  eugen- 
ics with  love;  the  social  demands  of 
the  race  with  the  individual  claims 
of  the  heart.  To  do  this  has  required 
a  very  subtle  and  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  psychology,  both  of  the  indi- 
vidual woman  as  distinct  from  that 
of  man,  and  of  the  woman  movement. 
And  this  knowledge  is  necessary  to 
an  adequate  understanding  of  any 
considerable  movement. 

I  am  quite  aware  of  a  sort  of  super- 
ficial protest  against  such  analyses 
as  have  been  made  by  Prof.  W.  I. 
Thomas  in  Sex  and  Society.  But 
I  am  sure  it  is  an  unreflective  criti- 
cism, and  am  equally  sure  that  no 

[4] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

progress  can  be  made  where  facts 
are  persistently  ignored  and  where 
we  rely  merely  upon  18th  Century 
phrases  about  "rights"  and  "lib- 
erties" and  "equalities."  The  so- 
ciologists and  anthropologists  and 
psychologists,  with  all  their  dry-as- 
dust  technicalities,  have  been  neces- 
sary to  a  clear  understanding  of  social 
phenomena,  and  certainly  any  safe 
social  theory  cannot  be  divorced 
from  these. 

Woman  has  been  the  conserver  of 
our  greatest  social  values.  Man  has 
been  aggressive  and  not  infrequently 
iconoclastic.  And  these  life  atti- 
tudes have  a  physiological  basis  to 
guarantee  their  permanence.  It  is 
found,  for  example,  that  the  rate  of 
anabolism,  or  tissue  construction,  is 
higher  in  woman  than  in  man,  and 
conversely,  that  katabolism,  or  tissue 
degeneration,  is  more  rapid  in  man 
than  in  woman.  There  is  also  a 
significant  difference  in  the  number 
of  leucocytes  present  in  any  given 
blood  area  of  man  or  woman.  Both 

[5] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

anatomically  and  physiologically 
woman  has  always  been  more  nearly 
the  normal  than  man.  The  ex- 
tremes of  cephalic  index,  or  skull 
measurement,  have  always  been  cor- 
rected by  the  woman.  These  are 
facts  that  lie  back  of  economic  change 
and  racial  custom  and  are  expressions 
from  the  bed  rock  of  human  nature. 
It  is  axiomatic  in  biological  science 
that  structure  and  function  go  hand 
in  hand.  And  the  whole  structure 
of  woman  indicates  conservation; 
that  of  man,  aggression.  Not  for 
long  will  either  of  these  be  untrue 
to  the  basic  demands  of  their  nature. 
Moreover,  physiological  difference 
of  function  is  accompanied  by  psy- 
chic difference,  and,  while  the  habits 
peculiar  to  an  age,  or  arising  from  a 
class  through  a  number  of  epochs 
may  be  quickly  changed,  the  great 
psychic  modifications  that  have  come 
down  from  the  beginning  of  associa- 
ted human  life  are  monumental  facts 
not  to  be  explained  away  by  the 
theorist  or  ignored  by  the  enthusiast. 

[6] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

To  these  facts  life  simply  must  be 
adjusted. 

Woman,  then,  is  to  be  accepted  as 
the  great  conserver  of  social  values. 
Whatever  her  social  or  political  posi- 
tion in  times  past,  woman  has  held 
most  tenaciously  to  established  insti- 
tutions, has  recognized  their  values 
from  one  point  of  view  or  another,  and 
has,  with  instinctive  wisdom,  resisted 
dangerous  innovations.  To  be  sure, 
the  innovations  were  oftentimes  need- 
ful, but  most  needful  from  the  racial 
standpoint  was  it  that  humanity 
should  be  ready  for  the  change.  It  may 
be  pointed  out  that  in  many  recent 
radical  movements,  woman  has  been 
the  aggressor,  but  I  think  it  safe  to 
say  that  in  every  instance  so  noted 
it  will  be  found  on  analysis  that  this 
stand  has  been  taken  as  a  means  of 
conserving  a  more  fundamental  social 
and  racial  value.  Woman  became 
radically  conservative;  for  the  sake 
of  conservatism,  woman  became  radi- 
cal. It  follows,  therefore,  that  woman 
should  have  equal  voice  in  all  social 

[7] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

development.  But  the  important 
consideration  that  must  ever  be 
borne  in  mind  is  that  she  must  play 
her  part  as  woman,  and  yield  to  so- 
ciety the  full  benefit  of  her  nature 
as  the  complement  to  man.  Her  new 
work  must  not  destroy  nor  inhibit, 
but  rather  call  forth  the  richness  pe- 
culiar to  her  personality. 

The  mother  quality  is  demanded 
by  human  society  as  well  as  by  the 
family.  We  need  constantly  to  be  re- 
minded that  life  is  not  justified  by 
what  we  have  thus  far  attained,  that 
we  are  a  long  way  from  our  ideal 
humanity,  and  that  we  are  not  to 
strive  alone  for  present  values,  but 
for  the  beyond-man, — the  superman. 
We  are  to  remember  Nietzsche's 
caution  that  we  are  a  bridge  and  not 
the  goal.  And  it  is  the  woman  nature 
to  constantly  remind  society  of  that 
ideal  and  reshape  it  to  that  great  end. 
And  I  believe  that,  all  along,  the  deep 
and  underlying  motive  and  inspira- 
tion of  the  woman  movement,  born 
of  the  aspiring  mother  heart,  yearn- 

[8] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

ing  over  the  need  of  the  generations 
to  be,  has  been  in  the  interest  of  this 
fundamental  value.  Woman  has  wit- 
nessed with  tortured  soul  an  an- 
archic and  race-indifferent  man,  rear- 
ing institutions,  and  building  machin- 
ery to  grind  out  dollars  for  present 
need  and  making  deformities  of  little 
children,  and  maiming  the  mothers  of 
the  future.  She  demands  to  be  a  citi- 
zen that  she  may  mother  the  world. 
"  Nor  do  her  aspirations  end  with 
the  establishment  of  economic 
change.  The  increasing  interest  in 
the  science  of  eugenics  with  its  ur- 
gent appeal  to  the  laws  of  life  belie 
that.  The  serious  work  of  the  world 
is  seen  to  be,  not  the  armament  of 
nations,  nor  the  rates  of  tariff,  nor 
the  assembling  of  legislators,  but  the 
enhancement  of  life.  The  laws  of 
heredity  are  to  be  questioned,  sani- 
tation is  to  be  enforced,  and  the 
whole  matter  of  marriage  is  to  be  put 
on  a  radically  different  basis.  Not 
Life  for  institutions,  but  institutions 
for  Life  is  the  new  cry. 

[9] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

Selection  must  be  applied  to  life, 
and  this  selection  must  be  free  from 
economic  taint.  Woman  must  have 
the  right  of  free  selection,  and  must 
not  be  forced,  because  of  any  economic 
consideration,  either  to  enter  or  to 
maintain  a  marriage  relation  that  is 
distasteful.  Absolute  freedom  of  se- 
lection, on  the  part  of  woman,  of  the 
father  of  her  child  is  one  of  the  es- 
sential rights  of  motherhood,  and  is 
necessary  to  the  larger  life  of  the 
race.  And  this  can  be  accomplished 
only  by  woman,  who,  unlike  man, 
has  little  faith  in  hard  and  fast  rules 
for  life,  but  who,  with  superior  intui- 
tion, would  reconcile  eugenics  with 
love.  She  has  no  sympathy  with 
what  Ellen  Key  has  called  "the 
breeding  rules  of  Spartan  evolution- 
ism." "The  line  of  life,"  says  that 
great  writer,  is  in  the  direction  of 
"freedom  for  love's  selection,  under 
conditions  favorable  to  the  race; 
limitation  of  the  freedom  of  pro- 
creation, where  the  conditions  are 
unfavorable  to  the  race."  This  line 

[10] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

of  life  points  to  a  time  of  able  bodied 
fathers  and  mothers,  capable  physi- 
cally, mentally  and  spiritually  of 
urging  the  coming  generation  to  a 
yet  higher  lift.  All  of  this  simply 
means  that  human  love  has  got  to 
be  reckoned  with  as  a  force  in  so- 
ciety, and  must  be  consciously  given 
its  full  right  in  human  development 
for  the  sake  of  the  race. 

A  great  deal  of  misapprehension 
has  gathered  around  the  work  of 
Ellen  Key  in  this  particular;  and  the 
timid  have  held  up  their  hands  in 
horror  because  of  the  similar  boldness 
of  Miss  Dora  Marsden  in  the  later 
issues  of  the  London  Freewoman.  Yet 
all  of  this  is  simply  the  demand  on 
the  one  hand  for  a  safe  selection 
in  the  parentage  of  the  race,  and  on 
the  other,  an  insistence  on  the  free- 
dom of  personality  development 
which  is  also  fundamentally  needful 
to  the  race. 

Our  age  needs  a  quickening  sense 
of  the  will-to-live.  An  industrial  era, 
a  man-made  system  of  laws  and  iron 

mi 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

bound  codes,  have  transformed  Life 
into  existence,  and  whole  multitudes 
of  those  who  are  to  be  the  parents 
of  the  future  have  the  chambers  of 
their  lives  utterly  darkened,  and  the 
walls  made  bare.  There  is  no  touch  of 
the  beautiful  to  quicken,  no  inspira- 
tion of  the  good,  no  knowledge  of  the 
true.  They  are  divorced  from  the 
natural,  and  debarred  from  making 
marriage  between  the  artificial  and 
the  beautiful.  Thus  we  have  come 
all  along  the  paths  of  life  to  what 
Nietzsche  calls  the  "canonization  of 
the  commonplace."  A  healthy  will- 
to-live  will  send  a  new  fire  along  the 
veins  and  arteries  of  humanity  and 
create  anew  the  normal  desires  of 
the  soul  of  man. 

Woman  has  sensed  the  heart  and 
life  needs  of  the  world,  and  with  her 
advent  as  a  controlling  factor  in  the 
social  and  political  world  comes  the 
knell  to  the  cruel  mechanism  and 
deadly  formalism  of  the  past.  For  a 
new  force  comes  with  woman  as 
woman,  a  psychic  factor,  viewed  in 

[12] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

the  past  with  something  like  derision, 
but  now  at  last  accorded  a  hearing 
at  the  bar  of  learning.  The  heart  of 
the  world,  better  than  its  head,  was 
aware  that  the  "concept"  is  not  faith- 
ful to  life,  that  the  "idea"  does  not 
explain  the  best  of  the  world,  that 
the  intellect  but  touches  the  border- 
land of  the  real  world,  and  that  in  the 
solution  of  the  problems  of  life, 
somewhat  is  needed  to  supplement 
mere  logic — something  higher  than 
logic.  Even  instinct  is  sometimes 
truer  than  intellect;  Nietzsche  calls 
it  the  true  wisdom.  But  the  higher 
thing  is  intuition.  And  Henri  Berg- 
son  has  for  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  philosophy  recognized  its 
creative  function.  And  Maurice 
Maeterlinck,  in  the  Treasure  of  the 
Humble,  points  out  that  the  intui- 
tion of  woman  is  more  sound  than 
reasoned  knowledge,  that  it  sees 
deeper  and  interprets  more  truly 
than  the  judgment.  And  what  is 
more  needed  in  this  society  of  strug- 
gling, hoping,  longing,  human  hearts 

[13] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

than  the  understanding  and  sym- 
pathizing soul?  We  have  had  quite 
enough  of  blind  and  unenlightened 
sentimentality,  but  we  need  an  ex- 
pression in  society  of  the  knowing 
heart. 

And  what  is  this  but  saying  that 
woman  is  the  great  spiritual  con- 
server?  After  possessing  the  right  to 
citizenship,  "woman's  greatest  right 
is  to  build  up,  to  help,  to  console,  to 
love."  And  we  have  come  to  know 
that  the  thing  we  need  most  to  build 
up  is  personality.  We  need  per- 
sonality conservation.  We  have 
enough  integers,  and  cogs,  and  medi- 
ocrities; to  enrich  the  stream  of  life 
and  to  prepare  for  the  greater 
achievements  that  lie  ahead,  we 
need  much-alive  and  dynamic  per- 
sons, creators,  transformers,  regen- 
erators. We  need  the  expression  of 
fine  feminine  personality  in  woman, 
independent  and  free;  and  a  robust, 
vigorous  and  manly  personality  in 
man. 

This  requires  more  than  economic 

[14] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

or  political  emancipation;  and  yet, 
after  these  first  steps  have  been  so- 
cially taken,  the  greater  liberty  re- 
mains to  be  achieved  by  individuals. 

"And  who  am  I  and  what  is 
liberty?"  asked  Prometheus.  "Lib- 
erty is  the  freedom  to  become  free," 
answered  Herakles.* 

The  woman  problem  comes  at  last 
to  where  all  great  problems  must 
come,  to  the  sacredness  of  the  person. 
In  the  highest  sense,  woman  asks 
her  freedom  that,  removing  economic 
fetters  and  political  imbecilities,  and 
ethical  perversions,  her  spiritual  na- 
ture may  expand ;  and  this  not  alone 
for  her  sake,  but  for  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race. 

And  here,  as  protagonist  of  the 
Soul  of  Woman  in  the  great  life- 
drama,  comes  modern  literature.  In 
poem,  drama,  essay  and  novel,  the 
seers  of  this  more  sensitive  age  are 
addressing  themselves  to  the  high 
task  of  removing,  as  best  they  can, 
the  ancient  barriers  that  have  kept 

*From  Herakles,  by  George  Cabot  Lodge. 

[IS] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

woman  from  her  larger  heritage,  and 
have  withheld  from  the  race  some  of 
its  most  life-quickening  forces.  Even 
the  briefest  glance  at  the  work  of 
some  of  our  men  and  women  of 
letters  will  be  sufficient  to  show  us 
that  we  are  on  our  way  to  a  pro- 
found new  knowledge  and  apprecia- 
tion of  what  woman  means  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  mankind. 


[16] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 


T 


II. 

HIS  great  personality  preacher  HENRIK 
was  the  first  among  moderns  IBSEN 
to  emphasize  the  need  of  spiritual 
freedom  for  women.  From  Love's 
Comedy  to  The  Lady  from  the  Sea, 
Ibsen  demands  for  woman  this  "free- 
dom to  become  free."  Ibsen  knew 
the  meaning  of  that  phrase  long 
before  George  Cabot  Lodge  uttered 
it.  He  knew  the  futility  of  mere 
freedom.  He  understood  the  blind 
desperate,  inarticulate  children  of 
liberty  in  all  ages,  and  of  both 
sexes.  He  knew  that  liberty  is  not 
enough — that  those  who  seek  may 
not  find  until  they  are  ready;  that 
even  if  the  door  be  opened  to  those 
who  knock,  and  they  be  allowed  to 
enter,  they  may  take  only  what  they 
are  able  to  receive.  When  they  have 
suffered  enough,  and  haply  have  en- 
joyed enough,  they  may  take  all — 
but  not  yet.  The  great  freedom  is 
the  freedom  to  grow  worthy  of  free- 
dom— to  become  free. 

[17] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

Nora  must  indeed  go  out  of  The 
Doll's  House,  but  when  she  would, 
incontinent,  rush  forth  to  see  all  the 
world's  woes  through  her  new  vision, 
Ibsen  smiles  ironically.  For  him  one 
step  at  a  time  is  sufficient.  And  the 
great  thing  now  is  emancipation,  for 
the  necessity  for  that  is  clear.  When 
the  necessity  for  other  things  is  clear 
also,  then  they,  too,  will  follow. 

So  in  The  Lady  from  the  Sea, 
Ellida  is  made  say  to  her  husband, 
after  she  has  been  allowed  the  free- 
dom of  choice, — "Now  I  can  come 
to  you  of  my  own  will,  and  in  my 
own  responsibility."  That  is  the 
splendid  thing — to  be  able  to  act  on 
one's  own  responsibility.  But  that 
requires  self-realization,  that  is  to 
say,  personality. 

And  hence  Ibsen  urges  the  claim 
of  the  broader  human  quality  of 
woman. 

"Thou  art,  first  and  foremost,  wife 
and  mother,"  says  Helmer.  And 
Nora  replies,  "I  believe  that  I  am, 
first  and  foremost,  a  human  being; 

[18] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

I,  as  well  as  thou — or  in  any  case, 
that  I  should  endeavor  to  become 
one." 

But  with  all  the  freedom  of  the 
new  day,  with  all  the  breaking  of  the 
chains,  Ibsen  saw  that  deep  down  in 
the  heart  of  things  was  a  spiritual 
quality  of  gentleness ;  and  in  the  first 
edition  of  The  Pretenders,  he  de- 
clares: "To  love,  to  sacrifice  all, 
and  to  forget, — that  is  the  saga  of 
womankind." 

Ellen  Key,  in  The  Torpedo  Under 
The  Ark,  has  given  a  faithful  sum- 
mary of  the  Feminism  of  her  great 
teacher. 

"That  woman's  love — if  the  word 
is  taken  in  its  largest,  most  compre- 
hensive sense — more  surely  than  any 
other  feeling  divines  the  way  to  the 
greater  happiness  for  the  individual, 
as  well  as  for  the  whole  race,  is  Ib- 
sen's great  belief  regarding  woman. 
He  sees  her  essential  nature  as  erotic 
and  maternal  devotion.  From  this 
devotion,  to  which  he  pardons  every- 
thing, he  hopes  also  for  everything. 

[19] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

He  knows  that  contingencies  of  a 
thousand  kinds,  some  of  which  he  has 
painted  in  his  profound  poem  'Trans- 
formations,' will  always  obstruct 
the  way  of  man's  chances  of  happi- 
ness; that  before  the  red  abysses  of 
the  heart,  before  the  obscure,  night- 
enmantled  regions  of  the  soul,  before 
the  white  and  black  magic  of  sym- 
pathy and  antipathy,  before  the  de- 
lusive play  of  the  senses  and  the 
blind  encounters  of  chance,  woman 
also  stands  powerless.  But  he  not 
only  hopes  that  woman,  through  the 
explosive  character  of  her  nature, 
will  serve  as  the  best  torpedo  for  the 
old  ark,  he  believes  also  that  she  will 
succeed  in  renewing  the  blood  of 
humanity  by  means  of  new  life- 
values,  new  ethical  motives,  a  new 
idealism,  a  new  faith.  But  this  can 
happen  only  if  she  develop  her  own 
individuality;  which  implies  that  she 
maintain  the  deep,  essential  charac- 
teristics which  distinguish  her  from 
man. 

"Then  will  all  the  dream  beauty, 

[20] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

the  depth  of  presentiment  in  the 
soul-life  of  the  modern  woman  be 
able  to  form  the  future  and  assume 
shape  in  the  whole  life  of  man,  above 
all  in  the  erotic  union  so  that  this  will 
maintain  its  entire  strength  and 
soundness  through  its  own  content 
and  preserve  an  ever  increasing 
freedom  and  delicacy  in  all  its  forms 
of  expression." 

For  a  sympathetic  understanding  ROBERT 
of  the  Soul  of   woman  no  seer  has  BROWNING 
surpassed  Robert  Browning,  who,  in 
The    Ring    and    the    Book,    creates 
Pompilia,  one  of  those  souls  through 
whom 

"God  stooping,  shows  sufficient  of 

His  light 
For  us  i'  the  dark  to  rise  by." 

Not  a  fighter  like  Ibsen,  with  none 
of  the  bitterness  of  Strindberg, 
Browning  sees  the  depths,  the  intui- 
tive power,  the  sensitive  spiritual 
nature  of  the  essential  woman. 

He  knows,   through  an  intuition 

[21] 


not  unlike  that  of  woman,  the  inner- 
ness  of  woman's  most  whimsical 
moods.  He  is  able  to  see  their 
larger  significance.  Above  all, 
Browning  knows  the  depth  of  wom- 
an's yearning  for  companionship. 
Not  for  the  bearing  of  flesh  and  blood 
children  alone  does  she  yearn,  but 
for  those  spiritual  children  born  of 
the  great  marriage  of  those  who 
"know  themselves  into  one  .... 

but  marry  never They 

are  man  and  wife  at  once  when  the 
true  time  is."  For  woman  in  her 
innermost  spirit  wants  love  for  the 
life  that  is  as  well  as  for  the  life  that 
is  to  be,  believing  that  by  the  en- 
hancement of  her  personality,  and 
that  of  her  mate,  the  life  to  ^  come 
must,  too,  be  the  richer.  It  is  not 
enough  that  we  should  repopulate 
the  world ;  we  should  enrich  it.  Love 
is  for  growth.  The  understanding 
heart  quickens  the  Soul. 

"For  women 

There  is  no  good  of  life  but  love- 
but  love! 

[22] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

What  else  looks  good,  is  some  shade 
flung  from  love 

Never  cheat  yourself  but  one  in- 
stant! Love, 

Give  love,  ask  only  love,  and  leave 
the  rest!" 

On  the  surface  Strindberg  is  as  JUGUST 
much  committed  to  misogyny  as,  STRINDBERG 
in  his  opinion,  Ibsen  was  committed 
to  gyneolatry.  The  fact  that  most 
readers  of  Strindberg  stop  here  has 
been  the  cause  of  much  misunder- 
standing. For  what  seems  hate  on 
the  surface  is  sometimes  a  mask  for 
love.  With  Strindberg,  one  might 
almost  say  that  it  is  a  mask  for  wor- 
ship. But  he  was  able  as  no  one  else 
to  analyze  both  hate  and  love,  and 
to  let  us  see  most  clearly  the  bitter, 
the  eternal  struggle  of  the  sexes. 
He  is  the  master  chemist  of  the 
passions. 

In  Comrades  we  find  Strindberg 
fearing  the  outcome  of  the  sex 
struggle:  "In  this  war  to  the  death 
between  the  two  sexes,  it  would  ap- 

[23] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

pear  that  the  less  honest  and  more 
perverse  would  come  out  conqueror, 
since  the  chance  of  man's  gaining  the 
battle  is  very  dubious,  handicapped 
as  he  is  by  an  inbred  respect  for 
woman,  without  counting  the  ad- 
vantage that  he  gives  her  in  sup- 
porting her  and  leaving  her  time  to 
equip  herself  for  the  fight."  He  is, 
in  a  word,  afraid,  like  Nietzsche,  of 
an  effeminate  world  whose  destinies 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  "eman- 
cipated" women. 

And  yet  when  Strindberg  speaks 
for  himself  in  Woman  Hatred  and 
Woman  Worship,  he  says:  "As  I 
have  the  reputation  of  being  a 
woman-hater,  and  people  amuse 
themselves  by  calling  me  one,  I  am 
forced  to  ask  myself  if  I  really  am 
one.  On  looking  back  at  my  past  life, 
I  discover  that,  ever  since  I  became  a 
man,  I  have  lived  in  regular  rela- 
tions with  women,  and  that  their 
presence  has  aroused  pleasant  feel- 
ings in  me,  in  so  far  as  they  have 
remained  women  towards  me.  But 

[24] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

when  they  have  behaved  as  the  rivals 
of  man,  neglected  their  beauty  and 
lost  their  charm,  I  have  detested 
them  by  dint  of  natural  and  sound 
instinct,  for  in  them  I  have  sensed 
something  of  man,  and  an  element 
of  my  own  sex  which  I  detest  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart.  Consequent- 
ly as  I  have  been  married  twice  and 
had  five  children,  it  is  not  likely  that 
I  should  be  a  woman  hater."  Again, 
in  a  passage  quoted  by  Lind-Af- 
Hageby,  in  a  biography  of  Strind- 
berg:  "To  return  to  woman  was  to 
me  to  come  back  to  nature  .... 
and  thus  renewed  my  power  to 

think,    act   and    fight I 

have  always  worshipped  women, 
these  enchanting,  criminal  minxes 
whose  worst  crimes  are  not  registered 
in  criminal  statistics.  But  I  have  had 
sufficiently  bad — or  good — taste  to 
tell  them  the  truth,  and  they  have 
revenged  themselves  by  calling  me 
woman-hater." 

The  attitude  revealed  here  is  born 
in    part    of    a    keen    knowledge    of 

[25] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

human  sex-psychology,  and  in  part 
of  the  limitations  of  bitter  exper- 
ience. There  is  of  necessity  a  dif- 
ference of  outlook  where  there  are 
such  fundamental  physiological  and 
psychic  differences.  Differences  of 
function  have  embedded  them- 
selves in  structure,  and  express  them- 
selves in  complementary  fashion. 
What  Strindberg  failed  to  see, 
through  the  blinding  pain  of  bitter 
personal  experience,  was  that  this 
fundamental  spiritual  difference  is 
precisely  what  makes  it  so  impera- 
tive for  the  world  that  woman's 
attitude  toward  life  be  expressed. 
Then,  too,  the  great  Scandinavian 
often  confused  what  is  physiologi- 
cally and  psychologically  fundamen- 
tal to  woman  with  those  acquired 
characteristics  that  have  come  as  a 
result  of  her  response  to  economic 
stimuli  and  the  social  forces  that 
have  played  upon  her  in  the  com- 
paratively recent  centuries.  Those 
who  know  Why  Women  are  So,* 

*"Why  Women  Are  So,"  by  Mary  Roberts  Coolidge. 

[26] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

will  see  the  superficiality  of  much  of 
Strindberg  and  Nietzsche  without 
failing  also  to  appreciate  their  depth. 

Above  all,  in  estimating  the  value 
of  Strindberg's  attitude  toward 
women,  one  must  keep  in  mind  the 
personal  equation.  The  gods  dealt 
hardly  with  this  worshipper  of  wom- 
an, and  in  the  strange  perversity  of 
things  he  was  led  to  marriage  with 
the  three  women  he  should  have 
never  met.  And  through  these  mis- 
fortunes he  acquired  that  laboratory 
experience  in  the  hatreds  of  the  sexes. 

But  any  two  beings,  caged  for  long 
together,  will  know  something  of 
that  manifestation  of  the  will-to- 
power  which  leads  to  attempted 
dominance  of  one  by  the  other.  And 
when  those  two  beings  chance  to  be 
so  unsuited  to  one  another  as  Strind- 
berg and  each  of  his  successive  wives, 
that  conflict  for  mastery  will  end  in 
tragedy.  But  that  is  not  the  fault 
of  woman.  It  is  not  essentially  the 
conflict  of  the  sexes.  It  is  the  conflict 
of  the  jangling  wills  of  Life. 

[27] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

MAURICE  Maeterlinck's  Monna  Vanna  is  a 
MAETERLINCK  gospel  to  the  radical  Feminist.  Here 
the  modern  woman  speaks  with  her 
ancient  gentleness  allied  to  a  new 
quality  of  conscious  knowledge  —  a 
new  dignity  and  erectness. 

Vanna  is  the  conservative  radical. 
In  her  essential  womanhood  she 
exalts  Life  above  all  things  and  love 
in  Life  she  exalts  above  even  prin- 
ciples and  moralities.  For  there  is  a 
higher  morality  than  that  of  the 
codes,  and  in  this  consciousness  her 
timorousness  before  the  conventions 
fades.  She  knows  the  sacredness  of 
Life  and  the  value  of  love ;  compared 
to  these  living  realities,  what  are 
dead  and  formal  phrases?  Dionysos 
comes  before  Apollo !  To  save  the 
lives  of  the  people  of  Pisa  is  worth 
more  than  to  be  what  men  call 
"pure;"  to  take  that  risk  for  life  is 
the  truest  purity.  To  save  the  life 
of  Prinzivalle  is  worth  more  than 
the  formal  truth  which  her  crazed 
and  jealous  husband  cannot  bear; 
to  lie  for  life  and  love  is  the  highest 

[28] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

truth.  To  lie  for  life's  sake  is  not  a 
lie;  the  forcing  of  such  an  indignity 
upon  the  human  soul  is  the  great  lie. 

The  task  of  the  new  Feminism 
will  include  an  educational  program 
which  will  endeavor  to  prevent  just 
such  situations  from  arising. 

But  woman,  to  Maurice  Maeter- 
linck, is  a  conserver  of  still  higher 
things  than  these.  Turn  to  those 
exquisite  things  in  his  essay  on 
Women  in  The  Treasure  of  the  Hum- 
ble: 

"In  these  domains  also  are  the 
laws  unknown.  Far  above  our  heads, 
in  the  very  centre  of  the  sky,  shines 
the  star  of  our  destined  love;  and 
it  is  in  the  atmosphere  of  that  star, 
and  illumined  by  its  rays,  that  every 
passion  that  stirs  us  will  come  to 
life,  even  to  the  end.  And  though 
we  choose  to  right  or  to  left  of  us, 
on  the  heights  or  in  the  shallows; 
though,  in  our  struggle  to  break 
through  the  enchanted  circle  that 
is  drawn  around  all  the  acts  of  our 
life,  we  do  violence  to  the  instinct 

[29] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

that  moves  us,  and  try  our  hardest 
to  choose  against  the  choice  of 
destiny,  yet  shall  the  woman  we 
elect  always  have  come  to  us  straight 
from  the  unvarying  star.  And  if, 
like  Don  Juan,  we  take  a  thousand 
and  three  to  our  embraces,  still 
shall  we  find,  on  that  evening  when 
arms  fall  asunder  and  lips  disunite, 
that  it  is  always  the  same  woman, 
good  or  bad,  tender  or  cruel,  loving 
or  faithless,  that  is  standing  be- 
fore us." 

To  the  Belgian  mystic  women  are 
possessed  of  a  naturalness  unknown 
to  man.  Sooner  than  man  do  they 
discern  the  will  of  the  cosmos,  and 
they  hasten  to  obey,  for.  .  . 

"It  would  seem  that  women  are 
more  largely  swayed  by  destiny 
than  ourselves.  They  submit  to  its 
decrees  with  far  more  simplicity; 
nor  is  there  sincerity  in  the  resistance 
they  offer.  They  are  still  nearer  to 
God,  and  yield  themselves  with  less 
reserve  to  the  pure  workings  of  the 
mystery.  And  therefore  it  is,  doubt- 

[30] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

less,  that  all  the  incidents  in  our  life 
in  which  they  take  part  seem  to 
bring  us  nearer  to  what  might  al- 
most be  the  very  fountain-head  of 
destiny.  It  is  above  all  when  by  their 
side  that  moments  come,  unexpect- 
edly, when  a  'clear  presentiment' 
flashes  across  us,  a  presentiment 
of  a  life  that  does  not  always 
seem  parallel  to  the  life  we  know  of. 
They  lead  us  close  to  the  gates  of 
our  being.  May  it  not  be  during 
one  of  those  profound  moments, 
when  his  head  is  pillowed  on  a 
woman's  breast,  that  the  hero  learns 
to  know  the  strength  and  steadfast- 
ness of  his  star?  And  indeed  will  any 
true  sentiment  of  the  future  ever 
come  to  the  man  who  has  not  had 
his  resting-place  in  a  woman's  heart?" 

And  it  matters  not  that  woman 
seems  to  be  occupied  in  the  realm  of 
the  trivial  and  passing;  always  she  is 
within  the  realm  where  men  are 
strangers,  and  where  they  should 
come  with  uncovered  heads. 

"With   reverence   must  we   draw 

[31] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

near  to  them,  be  they  lowly  or  arro- 
gant, inattentive  or  lost  in  dreams, 
be  they  smiling  still  or  plunged  in 
tears;  for  they  know  the  things  we 
do  not  know,  and  have  a  lamp  that 
we  have  lost." 

Our  eyes  have  been  blinded  through 
their  lack  of  use;  in  the  realm  of 
the  spirit,  where  one  is  intimate  with 
the  secret  of  life,  woman  must  be  the 
eyes  of  the  soul  .  .  . 

"For  women  are  indeed  the  veiled 
sisters  of  all  the  great  things  we  do 
not  see." 

5.       Before  the  spiritual  emancipation 

OLIVE  , ,  .  .         , . 

SCHREINER  comes  the  economic  emancipation. 
Woman  cannot  achieve  personality 
in  a  cage — even  in.  a  gilded  cage. 
She  must  live  in  a  larger  world  and 
know  the  need  for  a  more  universal 
mothering. 

In  Woman  and  Labor  Olive  Schrei- 
ner  has  written  one  of  the  clearest 
books  that  the  woman  movement 
has  produced.  There  she  has  shown 
us  that  the  forces  which  have 

[32] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

brought  about  what  seems  to  many 
to  be  the  economic  enslavement 
and  the  coarsening  of  woman,  are 
precisely  the  forces  to  lead  to  her 
liberation.  No  summary  of  Woman 
and  Labor  is  possible.  One  must 
read  every  paragraph,  and  that 
task  is  made  easy  by  the  allur- 
ing power  of  Mrs.  Schreiner's  sen- 
tences. 

But  one  may  have  the  very  es- 
sence of  Olive  Schreiner's  message  to 
woman  in  Three  Dreams  in  a  Desert. 

"As  I  traveled  across  an  African 
plain  the  sun  shone  down  hotly. 
Then  I  drew  my  horse  up  under  a 
mimosa-tree,  and  I  took  the  saddle 
from  him  and  left  him  to  feed  among 
the  parched  bushes.  And  all  to  right 
and  to  left  stretched  the  brown 
earth.  And  I  sat  down  under  the 
tree,  because  the  heat  beat  fiercely, 
and  all  along  the  horizon  the  air 
throbbed.  And  after  a  while  a  heavy 
drowsiness  came  over  me,  and  I 
laid  my  head  down  against  my 
saddle,  and  I  fell  asleep  there.  And 

[33] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

in  my  sleep,  I  had  a  curious  dream. 

"I  thought  I  stood  on  the  border 
of  a  great  desert,  and  the  sand  blew 
about  everywhere.  And  I  thought 
I  saw  two  great  figures  like  beasts 
of  burden  of  the  desert,  and  one  lay 
upon  the  sand  with  its  neck  stretched 
out,  and  one  stood  by  it.  And  I 
looked  curiously  at  the  one  that  lay 
upon  the  ground,  for  it  had  a  great 
burden  on  its  back,  and  the  sand 
was  thick  about  it  so  that  it  seemed 
to  have  piled  over  it  for  centuries. 

"And  I  looked  very  curiously  at  it. 
And  there  stood  one  beside  me 
watching.  And  I  said  to  him,  'What 
is  this  huge  creature  who  lies  here 
on  the  sand?' 

"And  he  said,  This  is  woman;  she 
that  bears  men  in  her  body.' 

"And  I  said,   'Why  does  she  lie 
here  motionless  with  the  sand  piled 
round  her?' 

"And  he  answered,  'Listen,  I  will 
tell  you!  Ages  and  ages  long  she 
has  lain  here,  and  the  wind  has 
blown  over  her.  The  oldest,  oldest, 

[34] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

oldest  man  living  has  never  seen  her 
move;  the  oldest,  oldest  book  re- 
cords that  she  lay  here  then,  as  she 
lies  here  now,  with  the  sand  about 
her.  But  listen!  Older  than  the  old- 
est book,  older  than  the  oldest  re- 
corded memory  of  man,  on  the 
Rocks  of  Language,  on  the  hard- 
baked  clay  of  Ancient  Customs,  now 
crumbling  to  decay,  are  found  the 
marks  of  her  footsteps!  Side  by  side 
with  his  who  stands  beside  her  you 
may  trace  them;  and  you  know  that 
she  who  now  lies  there  once  wandered 
free  over  the  rocks  with  him.' 

"And  I  said,  'Why  does  she  lie 
there  now?' 

"And  he  said,  'I  take  it  ages  ago 
the  Age -of -dominion -of- muscular  - 
force  found  her,  and  when  she  stoop- 
ed low  to  give  suck  to  her  young,  and 
her  back  was  broad,  he  put  his  bur- 
den of  subjection  onto  it,  and  tied  it 
on  with  the  broad  band  of  Inevitable 
Necessity.  Then  she  looked  at  the 
earth  and  the  sky,  and  knew  there 
was  no  hope  for  her;  and  she  lay 

[35] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

down  on  the  sand  with  the  burden 
she  could  not  loosen.  Ever  since  she 
has  lain  here.  And  the  ages  have 
come,  and  the  ages  have  gone,  but 
the  band  of  Inevitable  Necessity  has 
not  been  cut.' 

"And  I  looked  and  saw  in  her  eyes 
the  terrible  patience  of  the  centuries ; 
the  ground  was  wet  with  her  tears, 
and  her  nostrils  blew  up  the  sand. 

"And  I  said,  'Has  she  ever  tried  to 
move  ?' 

"And  he  said,  'Sometimes  a  limb 
has  quivered.  But  she  is  wise;  she 
knows  she  cannot  rise  with  the  bur- 
den on  her.' 

"And  I  said,  'Why  does  not  he  who 
stands  by  her  leave  her  and  go  on?' 

"And  he  said,  'He  cannot.  Look — .' 

"And  I  saw  a  broad  band  passing 
along  the  ground  from  one  to  the 
other,  and  it  bound  them  together. 

"He  said,  'While  she  lies  there,  he 
.must  stand  and  look  across  the 
desert.' 

"And 'I  said,  'Does  he  know  why 
he  cannot  move?' 

[36] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

"And  he  said,  'No.' 

"And  I  heard  a  sound  of  something 
cracking,  and  I  looked,  and  I  saw  the 
band  that  bound  the  burden  on  to 
her  back  broken  asunder;  and  the 
burden  rolled  on  to  the  ground. 

"And  I  said,  'What  is  that?' 

"And  he  said,  The  Age-of-muscu- 
lar-force  is  dead.  The  Age-of -nerv- 
ous-force has  killed  him  with  the 
knife  he  holds  in  his  hand;  and 
silently  and  invisibly  he  has  crept  up 
to  the  woman,  and  with  that  knife  of 
Mechanical  Invention  he  has  cut  the 
band  that  bound  the  burden  to  her 
back.  The  Inevitable  Necessity  is 
broken.  She  might  rise  now.' 

"And  I  saw  that  she  still  lay  mo- 
tionless on  the  sand,  with  her  eyes 
open  and  her  neck  stretched  out.  And 
she  seemed  to  look  for  something  on 
the  far-off  border  of  the  desert  that 
never  came.  And  I  wondered  if  she 
were  awake  or  asleep.  And  as  I 
looked  her  body  quivered,  and  a  light 
came  into  her  eyes,  like  when  a  sun- 
beam breaks  into  a  dark  room. 

[37] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

"I  said,  'What  is  it?' 

"He  whispered,  'Hush!  the  thought 
has  come  to  her,  "Might  I  not  rise?" ' 

"And  I  looked.  And  she  raised  her 
head  from  the  sand,  and  I  saw  the 
dent  where  her  neck  had  lain  so  long. 
And  she  looked  at  the  earth,  and  she 
looked  at  the  sky,  and  she  looked  at 
him  who  stood  by  her;  but  he  looked 
out  across  the  desert. 

"And  I  saw  her  body  quiver;  and 
she  pressed  her  front  knees  to  the 
earth,  and  veins  stood  out;  and  I 
cried,  'She  is  going  to  rise!' 

"But  only  her  sides  heaved,  and 
she  lay  still  where  she  was. 

"But  her  head  she  held  up;  she  did 
not  lay  it  down  again.  And  he  be- 
side me  said,  'She  is  very  weak. 
See,  her  legs  have  been  crushed  under 
her  so  long.' 

"And  I  saw  the  creature  struggle; 
and  the  drops  stood  out  on  her. 

"And  I  said,  'Surely  he  who  stands 
beside  her  will  help  her?' 

"And  he  beside  me  answered,  'He 
cannot  help  her;  she  must  help  herself. 

[38] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

Let  her  struggle  till  she  is  strong.' 

"And  I  cried,  'At  least  he  will  not 
hinder  her!  See,  he  moves  further 
from  her,  and  tightens  the  cord  be- 
tween them,  and  he  drags  her  down.' 

"And  he  answered,  'He  does  not 
understand.  When  she  moves  she 
draws  the  band  that  binds  them, 
and  hurts  him,  and  he  moves  fur- 
ther from  her.  The  day  will  come 
when  he  will  understand,  and  will 
know  what  she  is  doing.  Let  her 
once  stagger  on  to  her  knees.  In  that 
day  he  will  stand  close  to  her,  and 
look  into  her  eyes  with  sympathy.' 

"And  she  stretched  her  neck,  and 
the  drops  fell  from  her.  And  the 
creature  rose  an  inch  from  the  earth 
and  sank  back. 

"And  I  cried,  'Oh,  she  is  too  weak! 
she  cannot  walk!  The  long  years 
have  taken  all  her  strength  from  her. 
Can  she  never  move?' 

"And  he  answered  me,  'See  the 
light  in  her  eyes!' 

"And  slowly  the  creature  staggered 
on  to  its  knees. 

[39] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

"And  I  awoke;  and  all  to  the  east 
and  to  the  west  stretched  the  barren 
earth,  with  the  dry  bushes  on  it. 
The  ants  ran  up  and  down  in  the 
red  sand,  and  the  heat  beat  fiercely. 
I  looked  up  through  the  thin 
branches  of  the  tree  at  the  blue  sky 
overhead.  I  stretched  myself,  and 
I  mused  over  the  dream  I  had  had. 
And  I  fell  asleep  again,  with  my 
head  on  my  saddle.  And  in  the 
fierce  heat  I  had  another  dream. 

"I  saw  a  desert  and  I  saw  a  woman 
coming  out  of  it.  And  she  came  to 
the  bank  of  a  dark  river;  and  the 
bank  was  steep  and  high.  And  on 
it  an  old  man  met  her,  who  had  a 
long  white  beard;  and  a  stick  that 
curled  was  in  his  hand,  and  on  it  was 
written  Reason.  And  he  asked  her 
what  she  wanted;  and  she  said,  'I 
am  woman ;  and  I  am  seeking  for  the 
land  of  Freedom/ 

"And  he  said,  'It  is  before  you.' 

"And  she  said,  'I  see  nothing  be- 
fore me  but  a  dark  flowing  river,  and 
a  bank  steep  and  high,  and  cuttings 

[40] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

here  and  there  with  heavy  sand  in 
them.' 

"And  he  said,  'And  beyond  that?' 
"She  said,  'I  see  nothing,  but  some- 
times, when  I  shade  my  eyes  with 
my  hand,  I  think  I  see  on  the  further 
bank  trees  and  hills,  and  the  sun 
shining  on  them!' 

"He  said,   'That  is  the  Land  of 
Freedom.' 

"She  said,  'How  am  I  to  get  there?' 

"He  said,  'There  is  one  way,  and 

one  only.   Down  the  banks  of  Labor, 

through    the    water    of    Suffering. 

There  is  no  other.' 

"She  said,  'Is  there  no  bridge?' 
"He  answered,  'None.' 
"She  said,  'Is  the  water  deep?' 
"He  said,  'Deep.' 
"She  said,  'Is  the  floor  worn?' 
"He  said,  'It  is.    Your  foot  may 
slip  at  any  time,  and  you  may  be  lost.' 
"She  said,  'Have  any  crossed  all 
ready  ?' 

"He  said,  'Some  have  tried!' 
"She  said,  'Is  there  a  track  to  show 
where  the  best  fording  is  ?' 

[41] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

"He  said,  'It  has  to  be  made.' 

"She  shaded  her  eyes  with  her 
hand  and  she  said,  'I  will  go.' 

"And  he  said,  'You  must  take  off 
the  clothes  you  wore  in  the  desert; 
they  are  dragged  down  by  them  who 
go  into  the  water  so  clothed.' 

"And  she  threw  from  her  gladly  the 
mantle  of  Ancient-received-opinions 
she  wore,  for  it  was  worn  full  of  holes. 
And  she  took  the  girdle  from  her 
waist  that  she  had  treasured  so  long, 
and  the  moths  flew  out  of  it  in  a 
cloud.  And  he  said,  'Take  the  shoes 
of  dependence  off  your  feet.' 

"And  she  stood  there  naked,  but 
for  one  white  garment,  that  clung 
close  to  her. 

"And  he  said,  'That  you  may  keep. 
So  they  wear  clothes  in  the  Land  of 
Freedom.  In  the  water  it  buoys; 
it  always  swims.' 

"And  I  saw  on  its  breast  was  writ- 
ten Truth;  and  it  was  white;  the  sun 
had  not  often  shone  on  it;  the  other 
clothes  had  covered  it  up.  And  he 
said,  'Take  this  stick;  hold  it  fast. 

[42] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

In  that  day  when  it  slips  from  your, 
hand  you  are  lost.  Put  it  down  be- 
fore you;  feel  your  way;  where  it 
cannot  find  a  bottom  do  not  set 
your  foot.' 

"And  she  said,  'I  am  ready;  let 
me  go.' 

"And  he  said,  'No — but  stay; 
what  is  that — in  your  breast?' 

"She  was  silent. 

"He  said,  'Open  it,  and  let  me  see.' 

"And  she  opened  it.  And  against 
her  breast  was  a  tiny  thing,  who 
drank  from  it,  and  the  yellow  curls 
above  his  forehead  pressed  against 
it;  and  his  knees  were  drawn  up  to 
her,  and  he  held  her  breast  fast  with 
his  hands. 

"And  Reason  said,  'Who  is  he,  and 
what  is  he  doing  here?' 

"And  she  said,  'See  his  little 
wings — ' 

"And  Reason  said,  'Put  him  down.' 

"And  she  said,  'He  is  asleep,  and 
he  is  drinking!  I  will  carry  him  to 
the  Land  of  Freedom.  He  has  been 
a  child  so  long,  so  long,  I  have  car- 

[43] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

ried  him.  In  the  Land  of  Freedom 
he  will  be  a  man.  We  will  walk  to- 
gether there  and  his  great  white 
wings  will  overshadow  me.  He  has 
lisped  one  word  only  to  me  in  the 
desert — "Passion!"  I  have  dreamed 
he  might  learn  to  say  "Friendship" 
in  that  land. 

"And  Reason  said,  Tut  him  down.' 
"And  she  said,  'I  will  carry  him 
so — with    one    arm    and    with    the 
other  I  will  fight  the  water.' 

"He  said,  'Lay  him  down  on  the 
ground.  When  you  are  in  the  water 
you  will  forget  to  fight,  you  will 
think  only  of  him.  Lay  him  down.' 
He  said,  'He  will  not  die.  When  he 
finds  you  have  left  him  alone  he 
will  open  his  wings  and  fly.  He  will 
be  in  the  Land  of  Freedom  before 
you.  Those  who  reach  the  Land  of 
Freedom,  the  first  hand  they  see 
stretching  down  the  bank  to  help 
them  shall  be  Love's.  He  will  be 
a  man  then,  not  a  child.  In  your 
breast  he  cannot  thrive;  put  him 
down  that  he  may  grow. 

[44] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

"And  she  took  her  bosom  from  his 
mouth,  and  he  bit  her,  so  that  the 
blood  ran  down  on  to  the  ground. 
And  she  laid  him  down  on  the  earth ; 
and  she  covered  her  wound.  And 
she  bent  and  stroked  his  wings. 
And  I  saw  the  hair  on  her  forehead 
turn  white  as  snow,  and  she  had 
changed  from  youth  to  age. 

"And  she  stood  far  off  on  the  bank 
of  the  river.  And  she  said,  'For 
what  do  I  go  to  this  far  land  which 
no  one  has  ever  reached?  Oh,  I  am 
alone!  I  am  utterly  alone!' 

"And  Reason,  that  old  man,  said 
to  her,  'Silence!  what  do  you  hear?' 

"And  she  listened  intently,  and  she 
said,  'I  hear  a  sound  of  feet,  a 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  and 
thousands  of  thousands,  and  they 
beat  this  way!' 

"He  said,  They  are  the  feet  of 
those  that  shall  follow  you.  Lead 
on!  Make  a  track  to  the  water's 
edge!  Where  you  stand  now,  the 
ground  will  be  beaten  flat  by  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  feet.' 

[45] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

And  he  said,  'Have  you  seen  the 
locusts  how  they  cross  the  stream? 
First  one  comes  down  to  the  water 
edge,  and  it  is  swept  away,  and  then 
another  comes,  and  then  another, 
and  then  another,  and  at  last  with 
their  bodies  piled  a  bridge  is  built 
and  the  rest  pass  over.' 

"She  said,  'And,  of  those  that  come 
first,  some  are  swept  away,  and  are 
heard  of  no  more;  their  bodies  do 
not  even  build  the  bridge?' 

"  'And  are  swept  away,  and  are 
heard  of  no  more — and  what  of 
that?'  he  said. 

"'And  what  of  that  .  .  .'  she 
said. 

"  'They  make  a  track  to  the  water's 
edge.' 

"  They  make  a  track  to  the  water's 
edge  .  .  .'  And  she  said,  'Over 
that  bridge  which  shall  be  built  with 
our  bodies  who  will  pass?' 

"He  said,  'The  entire  human  race' 

"And  the  woman  grasped  her  staff. 

"And  I  saw  her  turn  down  that 
dark  path  to  the  river. 

[46] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

"And  I  awoke;  and  all  about  me 
was  the  yellow  afternoon  light;  the 
sinking  sun  lit  up  the  fingers  of  the 
milk-bushes;  and  my  horse  stood  by 
me  quietly  feeding.  And  I  turned  on 
my  side,  and  I  watched  the  ants  run 
by  thousands  in  the  red  sand.  I 
thought  I  would  go  on  my  way  now — 
the  afternoon  was  cooler.  Then  a 
drowsiness  crept  over  me  again,  and 
I  lay  back  my  head  and  fell  asleep. 

"And  I  dreamed  a  dream. 

"I  dreamed  I  saw  a  land.  And  on 
the  hills  walked  brave  women  and 
brave  men,  hand  in  hand.  And  they 
looked  into  each  other's  eyes,  and 
they  were  not  afraid. 

"And  I  saw  the  women  also  hold 
each  other's  hands. 

"And  I  said  to  him  beside  me, 
'What  place  is  this?' 

"And  he  said,  This  is  heaven.' 

"And  I  said,  'Where  is  it?' 

"And  he  answered,  'On  earth.' 

"And  I  said,  'When  shall  these 
things  be?' 

"And  he  answered,  'In  the  future' ' 

[47] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

WALT  Without  romantic  sentiment,  Walt 
WHITMAN  Whitman  has  given  to  the  world  an 
impersonal,  yet  withal  a  vital  poetry, 
expressive  of  his  deep  reverence  for 
and  his  belief  in  woman  and  sex- 
equality. 

Too  often  has  his  poetry  been 
criticized  as  coarse  and  vulgar,  when 
it  is  only  that  the  interpretation  has 
been  personal.  For  while  Whitman 
is  not  given  to  vague  and  abstract 
concepts  of  "humanity,"  while  he 
everywhere,  in  his  treatment  of  the 
human,  means  men  and  women,  still 
it  must  be  remembered  that  Whit- 
man is  speaking  always  in  terms  of 
something  bigger  than  ourselves, 
which  gives  a  cosmic  significance  to 
our  acts.  In  that  passage  which  has 
given  such  offense,  beginning,  "I 
do  not  hurt  you  more  than  is  need- 
ful .  .  .",  it  is  apparent  that 
he  means  the  Life  Force  as  expressed 
to  woman  in  the  bearing  of  the  child ; 
and  while  we  may  be  pained  because 
of  a  too  powerful  realism,  we  must 
not  overlook  the  superior  inclusive- 

[48] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

ness  and  daring  of  our  most  original, 
our  most  democratic  American  poet. 

Here,  then,  is  his  manifesto — 

"I  am  the  poet  of  the  woman  the 

same  as  the  man, 
And  I  say  it  is  as  great  to  be  a  woman 

as  to  be  a  man, 
And  I  say  there  is  nothing  greater 

than  the  mother  of  men." 

To  Whitman,  woman  must  be  no 
weak  dependent,  and  he  again  and 
again  exhorts — 

"Daughters  of  the  Land,   did   you 

wait  for  your  poet? 
Anticipate  the  best  women; 
I  say  an  unnumbered  new  race  of 

hardy  and  well-defined  women  are 

to  spread  through  all  these  States. 
I  say  a  girl  fit  for  these  States  must 

be  free,   capable,   dauntless,   just 

the  same  as  a  boy." 

And  in  Whitman's  Great  City  the 
test  is  that  it  should  be  one — 

"Where  women  walk  in  public  pro- 
[49] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

cessions  in  the  streets,  the  same 
as  the  men, 

Where  they  enter  the  public  as- 
sembly and  take  places  the  same 
as  the  men,  and  are  appealed  to 
by  the  orators  the  same  as  the 
men, 
Where  the  city  of  the  faithfulest 

friends  stands, 
Where  the  city  of  the  cleanliness  of 

the  sexes  stands, 
Where  the  city  of  the  healthiest 

fathers  stands, 
Where  the  city  of  the  best-bodied 

mothers   stands, 

There  the  greatest  city  stands." 
Woman,  to  the  great  cosmic  demo- 
crat, must  be  among  the  companions 
in  progress,  for  "They,  too,  are  on 
the  road  .  .  .  They  are  the  great- 
est women!" 


ELLEN       ^n  Ellen  Key  the  woman  move- 
KEY  ment  has  found  a  leader  who  ex- 
presses most  perfectly  the  old  funda- 
mental truths  of  love's  place  in  life, 
and  who  has  not  overlooked,  in  her 

[50] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

eagerness  for  change  in  outward 
circumstances,  the  need  for  spiritual 
conservation.  And  yet  Ellen  Key 
is  a  radical,  a  breaker  of  images,  a 
creator  of  new  values,  a  maker  of 
new  tables.  But  the  tables  of  the 
new  law  are  not  of  stone;  they  are 
of  the  same  stuff  that  hearts  are 
made  of. 

If  Monna  Vanna  is  a  gospel  for 
the  younger  women,  Love  and  Mar- 
riage is  a  whole  bible.  Here  we  find 
the  very  heart  of  Ellen  Key  in  a  style 
that  reminds  one  now  of  Emerson 
and  again  of  Nietzsche,  but  which 
is  always  an  expression  of  the  pro- 
foundest  convictions  of  Ellen  Key. 

In  the  following  excerpts  from  the 
chapters  on  The  Evolution  of  Love 
and  Love's  Selection,  we  have  the 
most  intimate  revelation  of  what 
love  means  to  woman: 

"An  ever  greater  number  know 
that  love  is  absorption  into  that  spirit 
in  which  one's  own  finds  its  foothold 
without  losing  its  freedom;  the  near- 
ness of  that  heart  which  stills  the 

[51] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

disquiet  in  our  own;  that  attentive 
ear  which  catches  what  is  unspoken 
or  unspeakable;  the  clear  sight  of 
those  eyes  which  see  the  realization 
of  our  best  possibilities;  the  touch 
of  those  hands  which,  dying,  we 
would  feel  closed  on  our  own.  When 
two  souls  have  joys  which  the  senses 
share,  and  when  the  senses  have 
delights  which  the  souls  ennoble, 
then  the  result  is  neither  desire  nor 
friendship." 

Then  follows  a  rebuke  to  those 
mid-Victorian  women  who  in  the 
name  of  purity  have  denied  passion: 

"Soulful  people,  especially  women, 
have  hitherto  only  loved  partially. 
But  when  sensuousness — in  alliance 
with  the  mission  of  the  race — regains 
its  ancient  dignity,  then  the  power  of 
giving  erotic  rapture  will  not  be  the 
monopoly  of  him  who  is  inhuman 
in  his  love.  The  wise  virgins'  deadly 
sin  against  love  is  that  they  dis- 
dained to  learn  of  the  foolish  ones 
the  secret  of  fascination;  that  they 
would  know  none  of  the  thousand 

[52] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

things  that  bind  a  man's  senses  or 
lay  hold  on  his  soul;  that  they  re- 
garded the  power  to  please  as  equiva- 
lent to  the  will  to  betray.  When  all 
women  who  can  love  are  also  able 
to  make  goodness  fascinating  and 
completeness  of  personality  intoxi- 
cating, then  Imogen  will  conquer 
Cleopatra." 

"As  yet  the  charming  ones  are  not 
always  good,  the  good  not  always 
charming,  and  the  majority  neither 
good  nor  charming.  During  this 
transition  between  an  old  and  a 
new  womanliness  it  is  natural  that 
she  should  be  strongest  who  unites 
in  herself — 

Eve,  Joconde,  et  Delila" 

Ellen  Key  would  have  us  ever  bear 
in  mind,  that,  for  her,  the  essential 
element  in  the  love-life  is  spirit. 
She  rebukes  the  sensualist,  warns 
us  against  those  more  unstable  radi- 
cals who  would  use  her  teaching  as 
excuse  for  those  frequent  violations 
of  good  taste  which,  all  too  often, 

[53] 


are  the  stumbling-blocks  that  excite 
the  enmity  of  critics. 

"The  conviction  that  sensuousness 
can  only  be  controlled  through  being 
spiritualized  is  what  directs  those 
women  who  are  now  hoping  to  con- 
vert men,  not  to  the  duty  of  monog- 
amy, but  to  the  joy  of  unity." 

After  this  conversion: 

"It  will  then  be  seen  that  they 
were  wrong  who  now  think  that— 
while  God  walked  in  Paradise  and 
founded  marriage — the  devil  went 
about  in  the  wilderness  and  insti- 
tuted love." 

But  this  Eve-Lilith  who  is  soul- 
fully  sensuous  will  make  more  ex- 
acting demands  of  her  mate,  for: 

"Every  developed  modern  woman 
wishes  to  be  loved  not  en  male  but 
en  artiste.  Only  a  man  whom  she 
feels  to  possess  an  artist's  joy  in  her, 
and  who  shows  this  joy  in  discreet 
and  delicate  contact  with  her  soul 
as  with  her  body,  can  retain  the  love 
of  the  modern  woman.  She  will 
belong  only  to  a  man  who  longs  for 

[54] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

her  always,  even  when  he  holds  her 
in  his  arms.  And  when  such  a 
woman  exclaims:  'You  desire  me, 
but  you  cannot  caress,  you  cannot 

listen '  then  that  man  is 

doomed." 

Sociology  follows  philosophy,  and 
the  theory  must  be  applied  to  life. 
But  Ellen  Key  takes  the  pains  to 
distinguish  love's  freedom  from  what 
has  wildly  and  excitedly  been  called 
"free-love."  The  latter  she  dismisses 
as  unworthy,  the  former  she  with- 
holds as  a  sacred  right  of  personality. 

"Freedom  for  love's  selection,  under 
conditions  favorable  to  the  race]  limi- 
tation of  the  freedom,  not  of  love,  but 
of  procreation,  when  the  conditions 
are  unfavorable  to  the  race — this  is 
the  line  of  life." 


[55] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 
III. 

So,  then,  the  older  phase  of  the 
woman  movement  is  passing 
away  that  the  larger  thing  which  we 
call  Feminism  may  come.  It  is 
dying  that  Feminism  may  live.  In 
fact,  Feminism  is  the  only  excuse 
for  the  existence  of  the  older  and 
narrower  movement.  It  was  the 
voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  and 
if  it  was  a  somewhat  raucous  voice, 
it  nevertheless  was  followed  by  the 
coming  of  the  thing  it  heralded. 

But  Feminism  has  had  for  the 
world  many  surprises.  Contrary 
to  the  philosophers  who  had  been 
emphasizing  the  fact  of  her  conserva- 
tive function  in  life,  woman  has 
proved,  on  occasion,  to  be  a  radical 
of  radicals.  In  her  indignation  over 
the  immobility  of  British  Parliament 
she  has  shown  a  courage  seldom 
equalled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
In  the  recent  utterances  of  such 
splendid  women  as  Dora  Marsden 
and  Emma  Goldman,  it  is  found 

[56] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

that  women,  even  more  than  men, 
can  show,  in  the  interest  of  life,  a 
great  contempt  for  our  immoral 
laws  of  marriage  and  divorce,  our 
inane  sputterings  about  illegitimacy, 
and  our  codified  indifference  to  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  the  child. 

One  may  be  led  to  ask,  however, 
In  what  does  woman's  radicalism 
consist?  In  the  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion one  finds  one's  self  quite  in 
accord  with  the  writings  of  Pro- 
fessor W.  I.  Thomas,  who  has  held 
a  brief  for  woman's  conservatism. 
Woman  is  radical  in  the  interest 
of  conservatism.  And  she  is  just 
awakening  to  the  fact  that  her  past 
conservatism  has  been  a  wasting 
of  life  and  a  checking  of  progress. 
This  awakening  is  responsible  for 
the  change  of  front. 

Woman's  conservatism,  however, 
has  been,  and  to  a  large  extent  still 
is,  the  main  support  for  conventional 
morality.  To  this  extent  she  is  the 
enemy  of  the  on  going  life  process, 
and  out  of  harmony  with  the  spirit 

[57] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

of  man.  But  we  find  that  here  as 
elsewhere  woman's  heart  has  been 
in  the  right,  even  though  her  head 
has  been  at  fault.  She  has  thought 
to  be  supporting  life,  to  be  protect- 
ing the  home,  and  religion  and  her 
child.  The  mere  militant  suffragist, 
who  is  apt  to  be  a  bit  of  an  old  maid 
and  a  puritan,  persists  in  this  error, 
and,  joining  hands  with  the  clergy, 
and  other  sexless  Comstockians,  loses 
no  opportunity  for  making  crusades 
against  what  she  conceives  to  be  of 
the  flesh  and  the  devil.  She  does  not 
hesitate  to  become  a  literary  and 
dramatic  critic,  art  censor,  sociolo- 
gist, theologian,  criminologist,  or 
statesman.  Indeed  she  becomes  in 
turn  all  of  these  without  embarrass- 
ment or  apology,  to  the  great  annoy- 
ance of  healthy  people  and  artists. 
But  the  modern  Feminist  does  not 
share  this  confusion.  She  knows  her 
Westermarck  and  her  Nietzsche,  and 
sees  that  conventional  morality  does 
not  exist  for  life's  sake,  but  for 
property's  sake;  not  for  religion's 

[58] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  narrow 
Paulinized  churchman.  And  she  is 
apt  to  have  no  great  reverence  for 
what  to  her  is  an  effete  and  formal 
morality.  Life  is  all  for  the  eager 
forward  -  reaching  souls,  on  the 
stretch  for  the  things  that  lie  ahead; 
it  will  have  none  of  the  pious  restraints 
of  dogma.  The  modern  Feminists, 
I  suspect,  smile  knowingly  over  the 
church-warden's  story  in  Hardy's 
Jude  the  Obscure.  They  suspect  rule- 
of-thumb  moralities,  and  refuse  to 
pledge  their  souls  upon  the  shib- 
boleths of  tradition.  This,  not  that 
there  may  be  license,  but  that  edu- 
cation and  good  taste  may  join  hands 
to  give  us  liberty.  For  while  the 
Feminist  declares  against  vice  no 
less  heartily  than  her  sister,  she 
defers  more  readily  to  the  deeper 
remedies  of  life,  to  the  sounder 
sociology,  and  to  the  sanity  born  of 
wisdom. 

Because  she  believes  in  morality, 
she  is  skeptical  of  ethics;  because 
she  believes  in  life,  she  will  make 

[59] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

conventions  decorative  and  not  de- 
finitive. Didn't  someone  once  say 
that  "Cavaliers  and  Puritans  are 
interesting  for  their  costumes  and 
not  for  their  convictions?" 

And  now  that  woman  is  to  be  no 
longer  blinded  about  the  truths  of 
life,  now  that  she  may  express  her 
woman-nature  in  some  social  way, 
innumerable  evils  that  heretofore 
seemed  well  nigh  incurable,  are  being 
brought  within  the  reach  of  a  more 
scientific  sociology.  And  this  by 
the  wholesome  modern  woman  and 
not  by  the  Christian-Endeavored 
ladies  who  have  made  such  a  sad 
muddle  of  things  in  so  many  leading 
cities  of  America.  In  a  recent  bril- 
liant article  by  Cornelia  Dodd 
Brown,  we  are  told  that  our  profes- 
sional reformers,  both  men  and 
women,  are  neuters,  and  that  they 
should  be  set  about  the  detail  work 
of  civilization,  leaving  the  more  im- 
portant task  of  social  direction  and 
law  making,  to  those  men  and 
women  who  are  fully  alive,  sex- 

[60] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

conscious,  and  possessed  of  person- 
ality. The  fact  that  we  have  not 
done  this,  she  points  out,  is  one  of 
the  blunders  of  our  civilization. 

That  in  the  woman  movement 
are  to  be  found  leaders  like  these, 
having  such  sanity,  combined  with 
all  the  spiritual  fineness  of  our  Vic- 
torian mothers,  bringing  that  wealth 
of  intuitive  understanding,  which  is 
woman's  inheritance,  is  a  thing  to 
make  the  world  rejoice  as  it  faces  the 
future. 

Such  women,  when  they  have 
come  to  express  their  will  more  fully 
in  social  institutions,  will  not  for 
long  tolerate  the  hideous  barbarity 
of  war.  The  pretext  of  duty  will  not 
again  be  enough  to  make  women 
bear  children  for  states  whose  ex- 
istence is  dependent  upon  militar- 
ism, and  whose  advance  to  power 
means  the  crushing  and  maiming  of 
life. 

Indeed  the  modern  woman,  while 
knowing  her  supreme  task  to  be  that 
of  motherhood,  knows  that  that  task 

[61] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

is  often  best  fulfilled  in  refusing  to 
bear  children  of  flesh  and  blood. 
Her  great  task  is  to  raise  the  level 
of  racial  quality;  to  mother  the 
better  instincts  in  mankind;  to  give 
birth  to  new  spirit-children,  born  of 
great  companionships.  Her  great 
task,  in  a  word,  will  be  to  keep  alive 
the  child  in  the  heart  of  mankind; 
that  task  suggested  by  Frederick 
Nietzsche.  Woman  knows  that  love 
is  for  the  enhancement  of  the  indi- 
vidual as  well  as  for  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  race.  For  woman, 
whether  in  politics,  where  she  is 
needed,  or  in  business,  where  her 
influence  uplifts,  or  in  the  great 
fields  of  social  service,  where  her 
healing  touch  always  brings  life,  will 
always  be  mother  of  men;  and  now 
she  will  be  a  better  mother,  for  she 
will  be  the  open-eyed  companion 
of  men. 

When  the  work  is  wholly  done, 
when  the  newness  of  woman's  en- 
trance into  the  larger  life  is  over, 
when  the  old  prejudices  have  been 

[62] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

left  behind,  when  intuition  and  rea- 
son are  both  seen  to  be  ways  to 
truth,  and  necessary  in  any  life 
solution, — then  it  will  be  possible  for 
man  and  woman  together,  and  both 
free,  body  and  soul,  to  face  the  more 
fundamental  problems  of  life  as 
their  high  spiritual  business.  Their 
chief  concern  will  be  the  things  that 
the  world  in  its  heart  of  hearts  has 
all  along  been  asking:  What  are  the 
Rights  of  the  Spirit?  What  is 
the  Meaning  of  Life?  How  shall 
the  World  be  Remoulded  Nearer 
to  the  Heart's  Desire? 

In  that  day  the  Lord  of  Life  may 
say  to  these  new  earth-children  what 
Herakles  said  in  the  closing  lines  of 
George  Cabot  Lodge's  great  drama: 

All  that  there  is  at  all  I  give  to  you ! — Lo, 
Yours  is  the  Universe  and  yours  the 

Soul, 
And  life  and  labor  and  liberty  are 

yours 

To  understand  and  blend  them  into  one ! 
All  that  there  is  I  give  to  you,  and  no  less, 

[63] 


THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN 

And  nothing  more! — no  phantoms  and 
vain  dreams, 

No   spectral   fears   and   false   expec- 
tancies, 

No  empty  honor,  no  vain  glorious  joy. 

These  are  destroyed — but  not  that,  in 
their  stead, 

Other,  tho  lordlier,  vain  imaginings 

And  awful  ghosts  and  unsubstantial 
things 

Should  fill  the  shadows  whence  their 
shapes  are  gone; — 

Rather  are  they  destroyed  that  in  their 
room 

The  soul  may  go  abroad  at  last, 

Gravely  and  quietly,  as  befits  the  soul; 

And  freely,  and  masterfully  and  wisely 
dwell 

In  the  waste,  spacious  realm,  with- 
held so  long! 


[64] 


NOTE 

If  the  primary  purpose  for  which  this 
little  book  was  written  has  been  fulfilled, 
the  reader  will  desire  a  more  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  extensive  literature 
of  Feminism  and  will  wish,  at  the  very  out- 
set, to  become  familiar  with  its  greater 
writers,  such  as  Ellen  Key  and  Olive 
Schreiner.  Certainly  Ellen  Key's  Love  and 
Marriage,  Love  and  Ethics  and  The  Woman 
Movement  should  be  studied  with  dili- 
gence. These  should  be  followed  by  Olive 
Schreiner's  Woman  and  Labor,  Mary  Rob- 
erts Coolidge's  Why  Women  Are  So, 
C.Gasquoine  Hartley's  Truth  About  Woman, 
Rosa  Mayreder's  Survey  of  the  Woman 
Problem,*  Floyd  Dell's  Women  as  World 
Builders,  and  Mary  Austin's  Love  and  the 
Soul  Maker. 

After  reading  such  books  as  are  sug- 
gested above,  it  would  be  well  to  look 
carefully  to  the  scientific  foundations  in 
such  admirable  works  as  Havelock  Ellis' 
Man  and  Woman,  W.  I.  Thomas'  Sex 
and  Society,  and  to  many  richly  suggestive 
chapters  in  Westermarck's  Origin  and 
Development  of  the  Moral  Ideas,  Lester 
F.  Ward's  Pure  Sociology,  Crawley's  Mystic 

*In  this  compelling  work,  note  especially  the  chapters  on  The 
Tyranny  of  the  Norfn  and  Vistas  of  Individuality. 

[65] 


NOTE 

Rose,  and  O.  T.  Mason's  Woman's  Share 
in  Primitive  Culture.  In  this  field  also, 
Edward  Carpenter's  Some  Intermediate 
Types,  and  Love's  Coming  of  Age  furnish 
a  basis  for  a  prophecy  of  the  future 
relation  of  the  sexes  quite  in  accord 
with  the  spirit  of  Feminism  in  that  they 
suggest  the  coming  of  what  Rosa  May- 
reder  has  called  the  synthetic  types  of 
men  and  women. 

And,  finally,  to  that  class  of  readers  who 
are  not  content  with  dwelling  in  the  realms 
of  pure  reason,  and  who  scorn  the  laissez 
faire  attitudinizing  of  many  professed 
radicals,  surely  the  more  aggressive  jour- 
nals of  the  Feminist  movement  will  be 
welcome.  Dora  Marsden's  Egoist,  pub- 
lished in  London,  Margaret  Anderson's 
Little  Review  of  Chicago,  and  the  ever 
insistent  Masses,  published  in  New  York 
by  Max  Eastman  and  Floyd  Dell,  are 
among  the  more  powerful  propaganda 
magazines  that  deserve  loyal  support. 


[66] 


HERE  ENDS  "THE  SOUL  OF  WOMAN," 
BEING  AN  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE 
PHILOSOPHY  OF  FEMINISM  BY  PAUL 
JORDAN  SMITH.  PUBLISHED  BY  PAUL 
ELDER  &  COMPANY,  AND  SEEN  THROUGH 
THEIR  TOMOYE  PRESS  BY  HERMAN  A. 
FUNKE,  IN  THE  CITY  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO 
DURING  THE  MONTH  OF  FEBRUARY, 
NINETEEN  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTEEN 


University  of  California 

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405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

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